Dangermouse - He's the Greatest!
The world's greatest Mouse detective and secret agent Dangermouse with his trusty sidekick Penfold achieved cult status and in 1983 viewing figures topped 21 million and the show came third in the Channel 4 poll-slash-TV show "100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows", beaten only by The Muppet Show and The Simpsons.
This very British animated television series which was produced by Cosgrove Hall and generally parodies British spy fiction, particularly James Bond and the Danger Man as well as entertaining kids of all ages with quick fire and sarcastic humour.
All the characters are animals and the adventures take place amongst the human world; in this human sized world there are various examples of a mouse-sized Danger Mouse walking through human-scale sets, standing on table-football tables and, famously, living inside a normal size post box on Baker Street (Dangermouse actually lived just outside Sherlock Holmes' house!).
The show originally ran in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1992 and was one of the few British cartoon to break into the American TV market where it had a tremendous fan following that still exists as the series appealed to both pre-teens and adults with its quick-witted British humour.
Each ten minute episode needed over 2,000 individual drawings. A frequent 'cost-cutting' technique were "in the dark" sequences, which were pitch black with only eyeballs (or eyeball in Danger Mouse's case) visible. The animation team also reused 'locations' from episdoe to episode, and frequently set episodes in The North Pole where the icy, snow-covered backgrounds would require minimal painting and colouring.
Our Heroes!
Danger Mouse - voiced by David Jason
The world's greatest secret agent, so secret in fact that his codename has a codename.
He speaks 34 languages fluently, including some extraterrestrial ones.
He regularly balances himself on his index finger and bounces up and down on it ("a 7th level Yoga-Hopping Trance").
His eyepatch is not actually needed and is worn "because it's part of the suit."
Ernest Penfold - voiced by Terry Scott
Penfold is Danger Mouse's reluctant sidekick, a timid, bespectacled hamster.
he is often captured or getting himself into other dangerous situations
He is terrified at any sign of danger, and cries "Crumbs, DM!", "Ooh-eck!", "Ooh-Fiddle!" and "Ooh-Carrots!".
Colonel K - voiced by Edward Kelsey
Danger Mouse's boss I always thought he was a walrus, in fact, he is a chinchilla.
He became more absent-minded as time went on, and tended to ramble nonsense.
Isambard Sinclair - voiced by David Jason
The unseen narrator, but occasionally interacts with the characters, sometimes to the point of halting the plot for one reason or another (in one episode he accidentally sends DM back in time). Often voices his disdain for the show and his job. He usually comments at the end of every episode when the credits roll before the end theme tune begins.
"And so we come to the end of another load of - of another amazing adventure. But still some mysteries remain unsolved. If Penfold doesn't get his humbugs back, will it mean he's lost his stripes? Is a twenty four hour candy eating contest rock around the clock? And the biggest mystery of all: why do you watch this stuff? Now listen, I'm giving a poetry reading tonight, and don't fade me out, I haven't finished yet. I want you to come get some education. Now please don't fade me! Listen please! I need the money."
The Bad Guys
Baron Silas Greenback - voiced by Edward Kelsey
A toad with a wheezy voice and he recurring villain and archenemy of the "White Wonder" or "Wretched Rodent".
He supposedly turned to a life of crime as a schoolboy when other children stole his bicycle.
Nero
Greenback's pet. Where some arch villains have the stereotypical white cat Greeback has fluffy white caterpillar.
Stiletto Mafiosa - voiced by Brian Trueman
Greenback's henchman; a crow; and Italian stereotype - "Sì, Barone!"
Count Duckula - voiced by David Jason
A showbiz-obsessed vampire duck who wanted to get his own show. Later starred in a spin-off series, where he a vegetarian when he is resurrected during the Astronomical House of Asparagus. Instead of a adding blood, the nanny puts tomato ketchup into the potion, creating the world's first vegetarian vampire duck.
There are lots of other bad guys who appear for one or two episodes only:
Copper-Conk Cassidy: who caused everyone who encountered him to literally fall to pieces in sheer terror.
Doctor Frankenstoat: built machines to aid a bid for world domination.
J. J. Quark: A short, helmet-wearing, snout-nosed space alien who speaks with a Scottish accent.
Grovel: His robot who is programmed to obey Quark's every command. When Quark calls his name, however, the robots falls down flat on the ground face down and says, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, master!", obeying Quark's command to "grovel."
The Fangboner: A hideous and sharp-toothed alien beast that the aforementioned Quark unleashed on Danger Mouse and Penfold.
El Loco: A violent stereotypical Mexican "Bandito" type criminal who packs a few pistols loaded with Mexican jumping beans.
General Ro-Mole: A parody of German Field Marshal Rommel, who rides a cannon-armed tortoise rather than a tank.
Although rumours of a CGI revival have persisted in recent years sadly it doesn't look like DM and Penfold will return to our screens anytime soon, you'll just have to make do with the DVDs.
He's the ace, he's amazing!
He's the strongest, he's the quickest, he's the best.Dangermouse... Dangermouse... Dangermouse!!!
Dangermouse: 25th Anniversary Complete Collection (12 Discs)
"He's the greatest! He's fantastic! Where ever there is danger he'll be there!"
The world's greatest mouse detective Dangermouse together with his bumbling sidekick Penfold embark on a series of devilishly dangerous and definitely death defying missions.
This monolith of a boxed set features every episode ever made of the cult childrens TV programme; featuring a host of new extras to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Dangermouse.